Zynga lays off employees in midst of Apple event

Zynga, in an obvious attempt to avoid bad press, laid off some 100-odd employees during Apple's iPad mini event today. A total of 5% of their full-time staff are on the way out, and many were given two hours to clear out of the office today according to inside sources. The Boston studio is shutting down completely, while the Austin studio will see significant reductions. The Japan and UK studios are on the chopping block for closure. 13 games will be shut down, with a significant reduction in investment in The Ville due to dwindling performance. Though the vast majority of these games are on Facebook, there is a fair bit of overlap on iOS. Zynga's downward spiral doesn't bode particularly well for the titles it will be maintaining on mobile. 

It seems awfully skeezy to try to bury this news under all of the iPad mini noise, though if Zynga's going through a rough patch already, one could understand why they would want to minimize the publicity. Some of Zynga's more popular iOS titles include Words with Friends, Horn, Draw Something, Poker, Drop7, and FarmVille. How many Zynga games do you play? Would you be heartbroken if they were taken off the App Store? 

Source: Joystiq

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/22HMBUu41q4/story01.htm

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Zynga lays off employees in midst of Apple event

Zynga, in an obvious attempt to avoid bad press, laid off some 100-odd employees during Apple's iPad mini event today. A total of 5% of their full-time staff are on the way out, and many were given two hours to clear out of the office today according to inside sources. The Boston studio is shutting down completely, while the Austin studio will see significant reductions. The Japan and UK studios are on the chopping block for closure. 13 games will be shut down, with a significant reduction in investment in The Ville due to dwindling performance. Though the vast majority of these games are on Facebook, there is a fair bit of overlap on iOS. Zynga's downward spiral doesn't bode particularly well for the titles it will be maintaining on mobile. 

It seems awfully skeezy to try to bury this news under all of the iPad mini noise, though if Zynga's going through a rough patch already, one could understand why they would want to minimize the publicity. Some of Zynga's more popular iOS titles include Words with Friends, Horn, Draw Something, Poker, Drop7, and FarmVille. How many Zynga games do you play? Would you be heartbroken if they were taken off the App Store? 

Source: Joystiq

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/22HMBUu41q4/story01.htm

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New Mac mini announced

Apple announced an update to the Mac mini. The base model starts at $599 and includes a 2.5GHz dual-core i5 "Ivy Bridge" processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. Also included is an Intel HD Graphics 4000 graphics processor, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0. The storage is expandable to a 1TB hard drive or a 256GB solid state drive, and memory is expandable to 16GB. This is a minor update over the previous model, which started with a 2.3GHz "Sandy Bridge" processor, 2GB of memory, and an Intel HD Graphics 3000 graphics processor.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/blS_k0d2bpY/story01.htm

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ASUS announces three budget-friendly laptops with touchscreens, the VivoBook Q200, S400 and S500 (update: eyes-on)

ASUS announces three budgetfriendly laptops with touchscreens, the VivoBook Q200, S400 and S500 update eyeson

Remember when Ultrabook prices dropped to around $700 and everyone cheered? Well, get ready for some one-upping: here at a New York City press event, ASUS just announced a line of lightweight, touchscreen laptops, and let's just say the prices are pretty aggressive. The new family, which will carry the name VivoBook, includes 11-, 14- and 15-inch models, with the 11.6-inch Q200 (aka the X202) starting at $499 with a Core i3 processor. The 14-inch S400, meanwhile, will start at $599, while the 15-inch S500 will go for $649 and up. Across the board, there will be configurations with Core i5 and i7 processors, but again, i3 is the starting spec here. As you can see in the photo above, the design isn't all that different from the current-gen Zenbook Prime family, though they lack some of that line's higher-end features -- namely, 1080p screens and solid-state storage. ASUS so far hasn't said when these laptops will ship here in the US, but we'll be sure to follow up with more specifics as we learn them.

Mat Smith contributed to this report.

Continue reading ASUS announces three budget-friendly laptops with touchscreens, the VivoBook Q200, S400 and S500 (update: eyes-on)

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ASUS announces three budget-friendly laptops with touchscreens, the VivoBook Q200, S400 and S500 (update: eyes-on) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/iFG7W-xIqaI/

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Speedtest.net overhauled with new look, new features

speedtest
Speedtest.net is pretty much the go-to site for quickly figuring out how fast (or slow) your connection really is and comparing the numbers your ISP boasts with what it actually delivers. And now it's got a new coat of paint and a couple of neat features. In brief:
  • New UI: The map widget is much improved; it actually looks like a map now, and it's easy to see where you are.
  • Smart server selection: If there are several test servers nearby, Speedtest will now ping each to see which has the least latency and use that for the test. You can still specify servers manually, too.
  • User accounts: You can sign up for a free account and aggregate results from several computers/connections.
  • Speed Wave: This new feature lets you add your test results to the results of many other users, and get a nice composite view.
All in all, you get some nice, new functionality and a snazzier interface to boot. Nice!

Speedtest.net overhauled with new look, new features originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/07/speedtest-net-overhauled-with-new-look-new-features/

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New Apple iPad mini, 4th-generation iPad reach the FCC

New Apple iPad mini, 4thgeneration iPad reach the FCC

Apple's iPad mini and 4th-generation iPad didn't arrive alone. In the company's time-honored tradition, it has timed the FCC filings for both devices to show up alongside the products themselves. Each iOS tablet has been approved in both singular WiFi and dual cellular editions: the iPad mini has appeared as the WiFi-only A1432 as well as the A1454 and A1455 for worldwide HSPA+, EV-DO and LTE coverage, while the full-size iPad has been cleared in directly paralleled A1458, A1459 and A1460 versions. Not surprisingly, the frequency range matches that of the iPhone 5 and suggests that we're dealing with the same Qualcomm MDM9615 chip. We'll know more once the two iPads are in our hands and those of teardown artists, but for now you can explore Apple's regulatory gymnastics in full at the source links.

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New Apple iPad mini, 4th-generation iPad reach the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/23/new-apple-ipad-mini-4th-generation-ipad-reach-the-fcc/

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Ask DLS: Cross-platform multiplayer games that work on Android and iOS

askdls
Here's one for our knowledgeable commenters: I recently bought my girlfriend an iPad. I, on the other hand, own an Android device. And now we're looking for games we can play using both devices.

There's no dearth of multiplayer games either for Android or for iOS. But finding multiplayer games that can cross the platform boundary is an entirely different matter.

Jay recently posted Words with Friends which is one such game. It's actually an ideal example, because it's turn-based so you don't necessarily both have to be next to your device at the same time (great for long-distance gaming).

But what other examples are there? What multiplayer games are there that let iOS users play with Android users?

[Why am I now humming 'Ebony and Ivory'? -Ed]

Ask DLS: Cross-platform multiplayer games that work on Android and iOS originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 02 Mar 2011 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/02/ask-dls-cross-platform-multiplayer-games-that-work-on-android-and-ios/

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